1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a process for charging coarse-grained and fine-grained, solid fuels by means of a rotary distributor continuously onto a fixed bed in a reactor used to gasify the fuels with gasifying agents which are passed through the fixed bed from below and comprise oxygen, steam and/or carbon dioxide, wherein residual matter left after the gasification is withdrawn under the fixed bed as solid ash or liquid slag, and to apparatus for carrying out that process.
2. Discussion of Prior Art
The gasification of coal in a fixed bed is known, e.g., from U.S. Pat. No. 3,540,867 and 3,854,895. A gasification involving a withdrawal of liquid slag has been explained in British Pat. Nos. 1,507,905; 1,508,671; and 1,512,677.
The gasifying process described first hereinabove and apparatus for carrying out that process have been described in the above-mentioned publications as well as in German Pat. No. 2,353,241 and the corresponding U.S. Pat. No. 3,951,616. For a troublefree operation of the gasifier which has been described, it is recommended to charge the fixed bed only with relatively coarse-grained fuel having a particle size range of about 3 to 100 mm and preferably 4 to 50 mm. If the coal to be gasified has an excessively high content of fine-grained material or dust, the gasifying agents will not flow through the fixed bed in a uniform distribution due to the fact that the fine-grained fuel differs in trickling behavior from coarse-grained fuel and a segregation takes place as the fuel is introduced into the reactor through a lock chamber. As a result, the fixed bed of coal disposed in the gasification zone has regions in which fine-grained fuel is contained in a relatively high proportion. Such regions have a poor permeability for the gasifying agents and the product gases.